


Read the Fine Print

by DancesWithSeatbelts



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: ><, C'est la vie, Darker Oneshots, Death, F/M, Halloween 2020, I Tried, I don't think it was very scary tbh, Major character death - Freeform, Nalu - Freeform, One Shot, Seth's Kiss Darker Oneshots Halloween 2020, darker oneshots halloween 2020, i tried and failed, oh well, or in this case - Natsu died, spooky-ish
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-23
Updated: 2020-10-23
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:13:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27259249
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DancesWithSeatbelts/pseuds/DancesWithSeatbelts
Summary: Death is Inevitable and most often unexpected... A slightly chilling tale for Halloween, written for Darker Oneshots, Halloween 2020. Warning: contains major character death but no overt blood/gruesomeness.
Relationships: NaLu, Natsu Dragneel/Lucy Heartfilia
Comments: 3
Kudos: 5
Collections: Darker Oneshots 2020





	Read the Fine Print

**Author's Note:**

> I took part in the Darker Oneshots, Halloween 2020, an event with many talented authors, please kindly check out their Halloween Oneshots (when they come out as the posting has been staggered all over October) and their other works if they suit your taste, and please heed their warnings - some may be of an adult nature in content and some will be very scary and some will be not-as-scary!
> 
> Alastair, "Monsters"/ ArgentNoelle, "The Somnambulist"/ AsgardianHobbit98, "True Fear Shows"/ Babyvfan, "Name Your Price"/ Bewdofchaos, "Torment"/ Brenna76, "The Red Wolfe"/ CalderaValhallis, "Deliverance"/ CountMorningStar, "The Vampire of Yuggoth"/ CrimsonRaines87, "The Kitsune's Trap"/ DemonOfTheFridge, "Monster in Disguise"/ DemonShippingQueen, "Paris's Dark Halloween"/ Desna, "The Vault"/ Drawingdownthemoon, "Professor"/ Elleurs, "Aftertaste"/ Ferith12, "The Beating Heart"/ FreyjaBee, "Sweet Dreams"/ HisagiKirigakure, "Cuervo La Sombra Horror"/ HoshisamaValmor, "Merely a Simple Conversation"/ IceburgsanCPX, "Whips and Chains"/ Jadeile, "Blue Moon Massacre"/ Kakashi97, "Redemption Astray"/ Kamil the Awesome, "The Green Dreamer"/ Karkatsbabe, "Live. Die. Repeat."/ Kittyface27, "There Is Light In Even The Darkest of Times, But Sometimes It's Not Bright Enough"/ KuroshimeHaruko, "Sleep Walker"/ Max333, "Decorating for Halloween"/ Nazaki-Sama, "The Soldier"/ NekoPantera, "Stuck in Hell"/ Nissa Fox, "Electric Bone"/ PhantomGypsy13, "Against Your Nature"/ Phoenixreal, "The Demon on the Mountain"/ Potashiamu, "Paradise Lost"/ RayeMoon, "A Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare"/ Rhearenee, "Nyctophilia"/ Sailor Silver Ladybug, "In the Shadow"/ SensiblyTainted, "Trick and Treat"/ SerenaJones585, "Boo On You"/ SereneCalamity, "Little Bit of Poison"/ SesshomaruFreak, "Dark Side of the Moon"/ Seth's Kiss, "The Fear I Promised You"/ Shnuggletea, "Eleven Miles"/ Sigan, "Curse of the Ishida Estate"/ Silirt, "Ishbalan Halloween"/ Silverstar, "Out Of This World"/ SpunkyOne, "Eclipse"/ Starfire93, "Butler and Master: Damask Honeymoon"/ Tartarun, "Indrajit"/ The Token, "Disorder"/ TheBadIdeaBears, "Vivisection"/ TsukikoUchu, "Taken"/ WhatIDesireEternally, "To Die"/ Wrath of Vajara, "Who's Watching You?"/ Xache, "Harry Potter and the High Jinx Hotel"/ Yatsu Narurasuke, "PAROXETINE"/ Yemi Hikari, "Ghosting Reality"

Night had fallen and darkness embraced the fallow winter fields and snow-covered school's playground. Even with the extra light from the crescent moon, the icy white stuff glittered on top of the sleeping earth. It was almost Christmas and weird enough, Natsu didn't feel cold.

Natsu couldn't feel anything. His mind was a bit hazy, memories oddly discordant - and the nerve impulses from his brain were…incapable of firing. His body was inert; face-down, not even two paces away. He would never feel anything again.

Anguish welled and consumed Natsu's thoughts. He crossed his arms to warm himself - warmth he couldn't feel and didn't need, staring at the figure who skulked away. Part of himself wanted to follow his assailant but there was something; something intangible but all the same keeping him leashed to this location.

The sound of a car engine and tires crunching over packed snow startled Natsu. Lucy! A new pang of regret socked Natsu in the stomach; she was going to find the body. Natsu lifted his head to the heavens, despair fueling his cries.

Lucy's screams mingled with the ones Natsu was making. Natsu tried to run to her, take Lucy in his arms, and console her - but he was still rooted in place. The neighbors woke and found her, swarmed about like bees, and dragged the new widow out of the cold. Flashing lights signaled the arrival of the police, and a veritable army descended upon the crime scene - taking pictures, measurements, and statements.

A tall figure wearing a cloak materialized in front of Natsu who was too emotionally wrung out to do more than sigh as the new arrival pushed his cowl down and off to reveal a gaunt and intimidating face. He spoke, his voice deep and ponderously slow. "Oh, you're a cool one."

"Nah. I've always been fiery."

"Be that as is may, it's time. Follow me."

"No."

The man in the cloak of midnight heaved his own long-suffering sigh. "This ain't the way it works, bub."

"Don't care." Natsu crossed his arms and glared. "I can't leave Lucy alone like this - she's been through too much already in her life."

"But that's no longer any of your concern."

"I refuse to go."

A calculating grin lit up the strange man's features. "Well, there is one thing I can do for you, but you won't like it."

"Blah, blah, blah. All I want is to keep Lucy safe."

"I salute your intentions, but you don't know what you're getting into."

"Yeah, that and a dollar will buy me a candy bar."

Tall dark and spooky whipped out a clipboard, a pen dangling by a red ribbon and thrust it at me. "Sign on the dotted line."

Natsu took the offered items and signed. "Now what?"

Death grinned. "You're going to get to keep Lucy safe, that's all I can tell you."

"Works for me."

"Whatever." Death snatched the clipboard back and pulled his hood up. "Peace out."

Natsu frowned. Dying had been upsetting enough and then meeting who had to be the Grim Reaper was traumatizing all on its own. But even in the worst of times, there were glimpses of silver linings. "It doesn't matter what happens to me, I only want to help Lucy."

Death smiled. "You'll get your chance."

"Great."

"Don't cry to me later, that's all I gotta say." Death's smile morphed into a smirk. "I'll see you again and sooner than you think."

"Fine." Natsu was getting all fired-up. "As long as I get to protect my wife."

"You realize she won't know it's you, right?" Death shook his head. "You dumb fuck, you think you'll be able to tell her it's you? As if God would let that sort of loop-hole slide after the first clever bastard to exploit it."

"Doesn't matter." Natsu was resolute. Nothing was going to sway him into changing his mind. Nothing. "I don't care about me when it comes to my wife. Lucy is everything to me."

"Noted." Death made the clipboard disappear. "Now close your eyes and when you come to, remember you asked for this."

"Fine, fine! I don't real-" The words became thick as mud in Natsu's mouth. Time slowed and his sight grew hazy.

Death looked down at the soul he'd been sent to collect, one Natsu Dragneel, that writhed on top of the well-churned snow. It pulsed and shone with a golden light. "You poor bastard. I told you you'd never be able to tell her it's you." He shook his head. "But no one ever reads the fine print or asks the pertinent questions. "I wish you the best of luck in your new life."

Death crouched down to pet the small white puppy. "Guard her well."


End file.
